Too Much of a Good Thing

As a follow-up to my previous post that referenced the minor annoyance (ok, maybe not minor) that requires an urban adaptation that residents of Venice must make to navigate the watery public spaces during high water seasons. Through puddles and raised walkways, urban dwellers deal with this in fine form by the age-old tradition of adaptation. What happens when minor annoyance becomes major problem?

The Telegraph offers a more dire look at when the waters don’t just rise, but flood to extreme levels: “More than 95 per cent of the historic city centre, including St Mark’s Square, was under water as the city was swamped by the most severe flood since 1986…

Perhaps as a precursor to a future hydrological disaster due to global warming – Venice may be our canary in the coalmine for rising waters – “…Venice’s lagoon often rises to 40 inches above its normal level during ‘acqua alta’ or high tides, particularly in autumn and winter. But anything above 50 inches risks flooding the city and causing chaos for its 60,000 permanent residents and the tens of thousands of tourists who descend on it each day.”